Sven's Cookhouse is a popular restaurant located on Lake Union in Seattle. The owner of the restaurant has been trying to better understand costs at the restaurant and has hired a student intern to conduct an activity-based costing study. The intern, in consultation with the owner, identified three major activities. She then completed the first-stage allocations of costs to the activity cost pools, using data from last month's operations. The results appear below:
| Activity Cost Pool |
Activity Measure |
Total Cost |
Total Activity |
| Serving a party of diners |
Number of parties served |
$ |
19,470 |
5,900 |
parties |
| Serving a diner |
Number of diners served |
$ |
110,110 |
12,100 |
diners |
| Serving a drink |
Number of drinks ordered |
$ |
36,750 |
10,500 |
drinks |
|
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The above costs include all of the costs of the restaurant except for organization-sustaining costs such as rent, property taxes, and top-management salaries. A group of diners who ask to sit at the same table are counted as a party. Some costs, such as the costs of cleaning linen, are the same whether one person is at a table or the table is full. Other costs, such as washing dishes, depend on the number of diners served.
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Prior to the activity-based costing study, the owner knew very little about the costs of the restaurant. He knew that the total cost for the month was $180,000 and that 12,000 diners had been served.Therefore, the average cost per diner was $15.